Book Reviews

Faith and Fury: Why Jyoti Yadav's Covid chronicle still haunts India

Jyoti Yadav's debut book captures untold stories of migrant distress, rural suffering, and systemic gaps during India's Covid-19 crisis

Framing the Media: How 'once-free press' narratives misread India's history

The book's engagement with the digital turn is particularly significant in this regard

Chokepoints and sanctions: How finance has turned into a weapon of war

Neither Iran nor Russia has been deterred by US economic sanctions, and the US itself faces limits on escalation to avoid harming its own interests, argues Edward Fishman in Chokepoints

Arguably Contentious: The search for a principled nationalism in India

In an era where nationalism dominantes Indian politics, former Vice-President Hamid Ansari's book offers a conceptual framework for it and for India's foreign policy

INA, warts and all: The Forgotten Prisoners offers a needed rebalancing

Mr Hazarika notes that despite Bose's electrifying oratory, only 2,000 men of the 27,000 POWs outside the INA joined; the rest opted for the purgatory of Japanese POW camps

Reimagined by crises: Why the United States' Constitution is doomed to fail

A sweeping history traces the US Constitution's roots to medieval England, arguing it was shaped by crisis and expansion rather than pure ideals of liberty

Birds, Sex and Beauty: A lively take on evolution and attraction

Matt Ridley's book revisits Darwin's sexual selection theory, exploring how birds choose mates-and what it reveals about beauty, evolution, and human assumptions

Stories We Wear: Do appearances, outfits carry texture, history, politics?

This book unravels the layers behind what may seem like mere Instagram aesthetics or airport looks

Zoramthanga's memoir traces Mizoram's political transformation from chaos

Zoramthanga describes the IAF bombing and its aftermath

India Innovates: Why we need tech sovereignty in a data-driven world

The author goes beyond startups and "jugaad." He covers: Government systems, manufacturing and infrastructure, healthcare and agriculture and emerging technologies

'International Relations' offers a Global South view on foreign affairs

From environment and gender to refugees and more, this book offers alternative insights on issues shaping the global discourse

The destructive miracle of capitalism has pushed humans into insignificance

Jackson, an economic historian at Berkeley, is a critic of capitalism, which he defines as a system that turns things like labour and land into assets for market exchange

Behind the Big Screen: After-lives of juvenile stars, journeys beyond sets

A revealing account of Bollywood's child actors-tracing their rise, struggles, and life beyond fame, while spotlighting exploitation, resilience, and the need for stronger safeguards

Every Last Girl: How a grassroots push brought 2 million back to school

From a handful of team members to thousands of full-time employees, how a grassroots movement has brought over 2 million girls in rural India back to school

The Khilafat movement united India briefly, but deepened its divides

How a mass movement in India, centered on a grievance among Muslims, could have prevented the Partition in an alternative vision of history

Daktarin Jamini Sen: The journey of an imperial lady doctress remembered

Ms Chakraverti also draws from Dr Sen's short biography written by her sister, Kamini Roy, which included extracts from the doctor's journals

American Maritime Strategy in Indian Ocean: Tracing US' post-Cold War shift

The author argues, "Supply chains and critical technologies, such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology, are becoming increasingly important to emerging nations in the IOR

Chain of Ideas: Ibram X Kendi on rise of modern xenophobia in conservatism

Ibram X. Kendi's Chain of Ideas traces the rise of replacement theory but struggles to balance ideology with real-world political and economic forces

Love in the Time of Caste: Beyond headlines, a deeply human portrait

A powerful anthology that reimagines love as resistance, exposing how caste oppression shapes intimate relationships and personal freedoms in India

Notes on Being a Man: Scott Galloway maps men's path in new territory

As traditional ideas of what it means to be a man, and a desirable one at that, are being questioned, NYU's Scott Galloway offers a helpful guide for men to navigate this new territory